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Day 7, and ClimateFast will march from Parliament Hill at noon today, to the home of Stephen Harper to urge immediate action on Climate Change in the wake of the AR5 Summary For Policymakers Report released this morning by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The facts are in and they are indisputable!

IPCC, the world’s most authoritative body on Climate Change, released their findings this morning which demonstrate that aggressive mitigation on Climate Change is necessary to prevent crossing a threshold resulting in catastrophic warming with devastating global consequences. The report dispels all doubts that climate change is real, it is negatively impacting us, and humans are responsible for the majority of it. While it doesn’t provide new groundbreaking data, it does confirm with “virtual certainty” that the earth is warming significantly due primarily to increases in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Without aggressive mitigation, we are currently on track to more than double these levels by 2100 in which their best estimate is a 3 degree Celsius increase. In addition, sea level rise has accelerated, the rate of arctic ice retreat has doubled, the melting of glaciers is occurring at a much faster rate, and the oceans are acidifying. Long-term, sea level rise could be 5 to 10 meters. This also implies a substantial melting of the Greenland ice sheet. - IPCC June 2013.

The good news is that of the 4 models, two are compatible with a 2 degree limit needed to avert disaster, but requires that we arrive at net zero greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century. This would require a commitment by all governments to reverse this trend, to decarbonize and diversify world economies away from dependency on fossil fuels, and to shift to clean, renewable energy. The change is possible and absolutely critical to ensure a safe, liveable world for our grandchildren.

In the face of these dire predictions, ClimateFast will deliver a wake-up call to the residence of Stephen Harper with even firmer resolve. “Any government that fails to act on this report to reduce dependency on carbon and focus on the fastest possible transition to renewables is a traitor to future generations” said a spokesperson for ClimateFast. The route starts from the Centennial flame to Metcalfe, where Fasters will mail a letter to the PM, then walk along Elgin to Sussex, turn onto George and on to Dalhousie, then go north to York and walk back to Sussex, to the PM's house.

The debate is over, the time to act is now, the technology and the means to carry out the transition exist, what is needed now is the courage and determination to act.